UNESCO SCIENCE REPORT

4 . Canada
Paul Dufour
Canada
INTRODUCTION
Priorities: job creation and balancing the books
When last we reviewed the Canadian science, technology and
innovation (STI) scene in the UNESCO Science Report 2010, a
federal Conservative government had been in power since
2006 1 . Since then, Canada has weathered the fiscal downturn
fairly well, in part because of its sound financial banking
services industry but also because the Canadian economy
relied heavily on its endowment of energy sources and other
natural resources, assets that are always in demand in the
fast-paced emerging global environment.
When the shockwaves from the US financial crisis turned
a healthy budget surplus of CAN$ 13.8 billion in 2006 into
a budget deficit of CAN$ 5.8 billion two years later, the
government reacted by adopting a stimulus package in
January 2009. This package encouraged consumer spending
and investment through tax breaks and other measures, in an
attempt to reverse the downturn.
The package was costly (CAN$ 35 billion) and left the
government deeper in debt: the deficit peaked at
CAN$ 55.6 billion in 2009–2010. Balancing the budget by
2015 became the cornerstone of the government’s multi-year
Economic Action Plan (2010), which promised ‘responsible
fiscal management’ to ensure ‘ongoing economic growth and
job creation over the longer term’. In 2014, the government
projected that the deficit would fall to CAN$ 2.9 billion by
2014–2015, with a return to a budget surplus the following
year. In 2015, the latter is very much in doubt. In order to meet
its deficit target, the government sold its remaining shares in
the General Motors bailout of 2009. However, as oil prices have
1. The Conservative Party came to power in the 2006 federal election. Initially, a
minority government, it won its first majority government in the 2011 elections.
Stephen Harper has been prime minister since 2006.
plummeted since mid-2014, it is not clear what impact this will
have on the overall fiscal health of the Canadian economy.
One of the government’s key strategies has been to create
jobs 2 by expanding trade. In his introduction to the Global
Markets Plan adopted in 2013, the Minister of International
Trade Ed Fast recalled that ‘today, trade is equivalent to more
than 60% of our annual GDP and one in five Canadian jobs is
directly linked to exports’. The main goal of Canada’s Global
Commerce Strategy (2007) was to ‘extend our reach to new
emerging markets’; by 2014, Canada had concluded free
trade agreements with no fewer than 37 countries, including
a major deal with the European Union (EU). Its successor, the
Global Markets Action Plan (2013), fine-tuned this strategy by
eliminating trade barriers and cutting red tape to boost trade
with established and emerging markets 3 considered to hold
the greatest promise for Canadian business.
Concerns about public interest science, business R&D
and education
The government’s incremental approach to policy-making
over the past decade has translated into a lack of bold
moves to stimulate funding for science and innovation.
The organizational ecology of science and technology (S&T)
has undergone some change, with a growing focus on
economic returns from investment in knowledge. In parallel,
gross domestic expenditure on research and development
(GERD) as a percentage of GDP has been dropping (Figure 4.1).
2. The unemployment rate has remained steady since 2000, at between 6% and
8% of the active population. In April 2015, for instance, 6.8% of Canadians were
unemployed (Statistics Canada).
3. The following emerging markets are considered as being priorities for foreign
direct investment, technology and talent and/or part of regional trading platforms:
Brazil, China (including Hong Kong), Chile, Colombia, Indonesia, India, Israel,
Malaysia, Mexico, Peru, the Philippines, Republic of Korea, Saudi Arabia, Singapore,
South Africa, Thailand, Turkey, United Arab Emirates and Viet Nam
Chapter 4
Figure 4.1: GERD/GDP ratio in Canada, 2000–2013 (%)
2.1
2.0
1.9
1.8
1.91
1.7
1.6
1.5
2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013
1.63
Source: Statistics Canada
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